“We are excited to complement our partnership with Greenfield with youmex’s financial services to our customers. We believe that this alliance will serve as another catalyst for growth in the UK’s solar market,” said Eric Luo, CEO of Suntech. Luo, who is also responsible for Shunfeng Photovoltaics International Holding’s acquisition strategy, added that “through our partnership, Suntech and Shunfeng will be able to look at other acquisitions in the market as part of our strategy to become the largest integrated clean energy supplier globally.”

In the alliance, Greenfield will provide EPC services, while youmex will arrange construction loans and long-term project financing as well as selling the PV Solar Power Plants to investors.

“With its fully integrated transaction management of these three tasks, youmex speeds up and assures the whole process of financing and sales for one of the largest PV pipelines in UK,” explains Kai Hartmann, Head of Corporate & Structured Finance at youmex group. “We are very thrilled to be part of the alliance that unites the core competencies, experiences and strengths of these three complementary partners.”

“Together with the expertise of Suntech and youmex, our alliance is well-positioned to solidify a strong presence within the UK’s Solar PV market,” echoed Helmut Kube, Managing Director of Greenfield.

Among its many products for utility-scale projects, Suntech produces 60 Cell polycrystalline modules which are excellent for weak light performance markets such as the UK and are manufactured with advanced cell technology material making them highly resistant to Potential Induced Degradation (PID), thus allowing for high performance under extreme conditions for many years.

“We have great confidence in the quality and sustainability of our products for these projects,” said Luo. “Our polycrystalline silicon modules recently ranked above industry standards in a technical review conducted by UK-based consultancy OST Energy and received the VDE-Quality Tested certification, which recognizes high quality products that go beyond existing standards in the photovoltaic industry.”

About Wuxi Suntech Power Co., Ltd.

Wuxi Suntech Power Co., Ltd., a company incorporated in the PRC in January 2001, produces industry-leading solar products for residential, commercial, industrial, and utility applications. Suntech has delivered more than 30 million photovoltaic panels or 8 GWs of installed capacity to more than 1 thousand customers in more than 80 countries. Suntech’s pioneering R&D creates customer-centric innovations that are driving solar to grid parity against fossil fuels. Suntech’s mission is to provide reliable access to nature’s cleanest and most abundant energy source.

About Greenfield

Greenfield Solar International GmbH & Co. KG is a German EPC company which configures, builds, operates, and maintains photovoltaic roof and ground-mounted installations across Europe and has gained a good reputation for planning, engineering, logistics with procurement and for the turnkey construction of solar farms. Greenfield has built solar farms with a track record of over 650 MW in the last years and brought them to the grid in major European countries such as Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, and United Kingdom.

About youmex group

youmex group, based in Frankfurt, combines special financing solutions with a track record of about 3.5 billion Euros. As a financing platform, youmex acts as a one stop shop by simplifying, accelerating and optimizing financing and capital market transactions for almost 15 years. The Project Finance area focuses on the Real Estate and Clean Energy assets. In particular, youmex arranges bridge, construction, short-term and long-term financing of wind and solar parks for project developers and investors throughout Continental Europe, United Kingdom (UK), South and Middle America. youmex also sells wind and solar power plants as an investment product. youmex is a German Stock Exchange (Deutsche Boerse) Listing Partner and is regulated by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) as a financial services institute.

Besides the Australian Federal Solar Incentives and Australian State Feed-In-Tariffs, Australian government also provided other forms of encouragement for solar/renewable energy projects. In 2008, Premier Mike Rann announced the $8 million investment in the largest rooftop solar installation to take place at The Royal Adelaide Showground (locally known as the Wayville Showground). The Showground is located in the inner-southern Adelaide suburb of Wayville, just south of Greenhill Road. It is bordered by Goodwood Road (east), Leader Street (south), the railway line (west) and Rose Terrace (north). The Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of South Australia (RAHS) has controlled the site since the 1920s, the land having been purchased by the South Australian government prior to the First World War. The Royal Adelaide Showground moved to the present site in 1925. The Adelaide Showground has one of the largest under-cover exhibition spaces in the Southern Hemisphere, hosting over 140 exhibitions and conferences, attracting over 1.3 million visitors each year. From its 3.5 million liter underground water tanks to its solar installation generating 1,400 megawatt hour of solar electricity each year (equivalent to the capacity of powering 250 South Australian homes, powering 40% of the total average annual Showground’s power needs, saving 1,400 tonnes of greenhouse gas emission annually), Adelaide Showground is arguably the most environmentally friendly multi-purpose venue in Australia. It also provides a valuable educational resource for the wider community (check out its Solar Power Meter below, rarely seen at any other solar rooftop installations).

We were quite fortunate to have Mr. Ross Hocking of The Adelaide Showground, showing us the Showground, talking about its history, power generation, and showing us the simple but wonderfully educational Solar Power Meter

Adelaide Showground's Solar Power Meter, indicating the solar panels are functioning at about 40% of the maximum capacity...pretty good efficiency level for a cloudy day! Standing next to the Solar Power Meter, our technical advisor at Sun Is The Future, Mr. Michael Nunamaker (credit: sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker)

that I have never seen at any other solar installation sites. It is easy to see the pride of the local people in their Royal Adelaide Showground solar rooftop through the eyes of Mr. Ross Hocking.

The project is the first MW-scale industrial rooftop solar plant in Australia and the first commercial installation of First Solar Cd-Te thin film technology. The total area of the panels is 9,239 square-meters, installed on six buildings: Goyder, Jubilee, Wayville, Dairy/Goat Pavilions, Duncan Gallery, and Ridley Center. 12,612 First Solar 77.5 watt thin film CdTe modules, manufactured in Malaysia, and 108 Suntech210 watt polycrystalline Si modules, manufactured in China, were installed on northern facades, Jubilee and Goyder Pavilions and screens. It took just three months to complete. The system is divided into 184 sub-systems, each is monitored for power production. The thin film technology chosen for this project has better temperature tolerance than typical mono- or poly- crystalline panels. These panels are warrantied for 25 years, but are expected to last at least 30-40 years. Its estimated average 1,400 annual power production will generate a gross saving of approximately $126,000 pa. Furthermore, as an Accredited Power Station, Renewable Energy Credits (REC’s) are received for MW’s generated, estimated at about $46,000 (traded at market value).

Adelaide Showground layout, where multiple pavilions have solar installations either on the rooftop or on the side of the building (credit: sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker)

Installation of the solar panels and associated systems was managed by building and engineering company Built Environs in partnership with grid-connect solar systems provider Solar Shop Australia. Usually the panels are washed once a year. Maintenance was contracted for the first ten years by the systems integrators, Solar Shop Australia Pty Ltd, to ensure the correct functioning of all structural and electrical components.

Once again, we see the importance of effective government policy and/or actions that would benefit both the consumers and growth of solar energy industry, insuring local economic prosperity while solving a nation’s concern for energy security and environmental quality. Australian government and politicians have accomplished a great deal. Bravo!

~have a bright and sunny day~

Gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker

Any of your comments/suggestions/questions will be welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com

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This past week, U.S. imposed tariffs at a range of 31 to 250 percent on Chinese-made solar products to aid domestic (U.S.) manufacturers beset by foreign competition, but many critics believe that this decision may end up raising prices and hurting the U.S. renewable energy industry. I personally have several issues or question with regard to this range of tariffs, to be addressed in this post.

FACTS

The purpose of imposing this range of tariffs, otherwise known as the preliminary anti-dumping duties, is because the U.S. Department of Commerce ruled that Chinese manufacturers sold solar panels in the U.S. at prices below the cost of production. This decision is meant to provide a boost to the U.S. solar manufacturing industry. In the preliminary determination, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) set duties at 31.14 % for Trina, 31.18 % for 59 Chinese solar manufacturers (including Yingli Green Energy, LDK Solar, Canadian Solar, Hanwha Solar One, JA Solar Holding, and Jinko Solar) that chose to participate in the investigation, 31.22 % for Suntech, and 250 % for those Chinese solar manufacturers that chose not to participate at this investigation. The tariffs will be retroactive and be applied to panels that were shipped from as far back as about the middle of February, 2012. A final determination may still be made, so the tariff rates may be adjusted in the future. But the tariff rates resulting from this ruling were much higher than many had anticipated. This was the second of two duties/tariffs set by the DOC that stemmed from a trade complaint filed by SolarWorld’s American subsidiary. DOC’s final determinations are expected to be made for both tariffs in late July of 2012 and its announcement may reach the public as late as September of 2012.

Previously, in March, the DOC announced a preliminary determination that set relatively modest countervailing duties that essentially measure the level of subsidies and benefits coming from the Chinese government to Chinese crystalline silicon panel manufacturers: 2.9% for Suntech, 4.73% for Trina, 3.59% to all others. But now, added by the second duty/tariff mentioned in the paragraph above, Chinese solar panels will be much more expensive. The ruling could add about $0.30 per watt to the price of a panel. So, Chinese companies are expected to set up workarounds like tolling (tolling is expected to add only about $0.06 to $0.08 per watt) in which they send panels through another country, or even set up remote manufacturing facilities outside their country.

Below, I have a video clip from Suntech Power, to help better understand how Suntech PV cells and modules are made, below:

UNDERSTANDING

If you are as ignorant as I was about the international trade policy, this will help to clarify the situation: To search for better understanding of the DNA of history of U.S. Tariffs, I obtained help from Wikipedia, and found that tariffs were the largest source of U.S. federal revenue until the Federal income tax began after 1913. The history of U.S. tariffs went as far back as Tariff of 1790, established under the guidance of Alexander Hamilton;he calculated that the U.S. required sufficient revenue in order to maintain $3 million per year in operating cost and repayment for the $75 million foreign and domestic debt. Therefore, Hamilton proposed an increase in the average tariff rate of 5% to between 7 and 10%, with addition of numerous items, and the passage of an excise tax. Congress refused to pass the excise tax, but James Madison successfully steered the tariff increases through the legislature. In light of our current national debt rate and the relationship between President and Congress, one is amazed at how often history repeats itself. I am no longer surprised at the dramatic increase of tariffs (be it solar or otherwise) if I simply remember how much our current national debt rate is. But one does need to ask if similar rate of increase in tariff is also occurring in other industries.

Secondly, with the help from Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia, essentially, in international trade ( if company a comes from country A and company b comes from country B), it is all right for company a to sell at below the cost of production in country A (which often happens when there is an over supply of certain products, as what would happen during sales and clearances) , but it is not all right for company a to sell at below the cost of production in country B (henceforth the existence of tariffs) in order to protect merchants/manufacturers of similar products from country B. So, the existence of tariffs would benefit the local manufacturers but not necessarily local consumers.

CONCERNS/QUESTIONS/SUGEESTIONS

I have several concerns/issues/questions regarding this decision/tariff range:

The range from about 31% to 250% seems rather wide. The high end (250%) reserved for Chinese solar manufacturers that did not participate in this investigation: will this unusually high tariff rate result in preventing other Chinese manufacturers from ever considering any future sells to U.S. while providing special protection for Chinese manufacturers that have already participated in the current investigation with U.S. ?

The fact that this tariff will be retroactive as far back as February of 2012: will this decrease the desirability/amount of future international trades with U.S. from other nations ?

How are these rates determined ? I had a tough time obtaining the information regarding how these rates were set due to its proprietary information status. Is it possible for the decision for these rates to be more transparent and be available to public?

Assuming we are all cooperative human beings trying to optimize our earthly resources, will it be possible for the Chinese manufacturers to work out deals with the US manufacturers by transporting the solar cells (which takes up most of the manufacturing cost of any solar module) to U.S. to be assembled into its modular forms in U.S. plants so to help reduce the tariffs. In so doing, this will also help to reduce the transporting cost of the frames and various other components of the solar modules. U.S., in this scenario, will benefit from increased local jobs for assembling solar panels in U.S.

In light of our globalized economy and existence of tolling (mentioned above under FACTS), it is questionable how much revenue will truly be generated from this tariff.

Will this tariff increase the cost for American consumers and reduce the competitiveness of U.S. solar industry rather than simply boosting U.S. solar manufacturing industry in the future ?

I hope U.S. Department of Commerce will carefully weigh all of these issues before final determination later this year. Much remains to be seen. I welcome any of your questions/discussions/comments/concerns/suggestions here at Sun Is The Future (of http://sunisthefuture.net) via sunisthefuture@gmail.com

~have a bright and sunny day~

Gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker

Any comments and suggestions are welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com

Please also get into the habit of checking at these sites below for more on solar energy topics: